The Cove

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8mm

If there was a flash of insight, showing how an ordinary man can be changed by surrounding
himself with humanity’s darkest depravity, it was lost among the cop movie clichés. In
8mm, Nicolas Cage is Tom Welles, a private investigator hired to determine whether a
snuff film is real or fake. Instead of asking an expert (say, CU professor Stan Brakhage for
instance), Cage spends weeks and weeks immersing himself in the death-porn culture. Every half
an hour or so, for about 30 seconds, we are reminded that he has a wife and child who are
suffering immensely from his absence. That, coupled with his sidekick’s dire predictions, I believe
that Welles was supposed to be descending into depravity himself. But Cage’s flat, deadpan acting
style makes it hard to pick up on his character’s moral demise, much less care about it.

Movie credits

Director

Movie facts

Year released

1999

Factoids

Screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker's last big movie was Seven. Do you think his next film
will have 9 in the title?

See Also

 Seven, 1995, David Fincher, another dark film (figuratively and literally) based
on a Walker screenplay. Seven was much more tense and creepy.
 Videodrome, 1983, David Cronenberg, a much more disturbing film
about snuff films, their dark fascination, and trauma-inducing power.

Did You Notice?

Sometimes the film in question actually was 8mm gauge film. But sometimes the projector or other
canisters would be for 16mm film. 8mm film must have looked too innocuous.